I’ve heard Back to the Future called a perfect movie multiple times—most recently by British actor Tom Holland in a couple of interviews addressing a Deepfake, which replaced Michael J. Fox’s (Marty McFly) and Christopher Lloyd’s (“Doc” Brown) faces with those of Tom Holland and fellow Marvel star Robert Downey Jr., respectively. Though the film is beloved by so many, is it really that good? Getting back into movies this week, here’s the Bitchin’ Bio on Back to the Future.
Release Date: July 3, 1985
Synopsis: When high school student Marty McFly, armed with no other option, drives his friend Dr. Emmett “Doc” Brown’s time-traveling DeLorean 30 years into the past to 1955, he disrupts his parents’ (Crispin Glover, Lea Thompson) meeting. Marty must then take the assurance of his family’s future into his hands when his own mother falls for him, all while working with past Doc to get back to 1985.
Degrees of Kevin Bacon: Two. Lea Thompson starred in Some Kind of Wonderful (1987), which was written and produced by John Hughes. Kevin Bacon appeared in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles (1987), which was written and directed by Hughes, and starred in She’s Having a Baby (1988), which Hughes wrote, directed, and produced.
How I Watched It: My new Back to the Future: The Complete Adventures DVD box set!
Stay For: An interesting, funny, original story with incredibly talented actors and comedic timing, fantastic special effects, and three Oscar nominations (including Best Original Screenplay) and one win under its belt.
Had I Seen It? Yes. The best time was probably at my library’s outdoor movie night, which I believe was during the movie’s 30th anniversary in 2015.
Do I Like It? Back to the Future has two large issues: its treatment of sex crimes (young George McFly climbing into a tree to spy on a woman changing her clothes is taken as a joke, Marty’s strange, quickly thought out plan to “pretend to” attack his mother Lorraine so that his father can save her isn’t questioned, and the sexual assault of Lorraine by Biff (Thomas F. Wilson) is quickly brushed off as she is rescued and falls in love with George), and its insinuation that a white boy from California invented the music style of Chuck Berry, the “Father of Rock and Roll” (the “Johnny B. Goode” scene). These are uncomfortable aspects of the movie, and in a time in which we are hyper-aware of issues of gender and race, it would be wrong not to address them. No, Back to the Future is not a “perfect” movie, but despite its missteps, I really can’t help but like it for all its best parts, including this line:
I’ll see you in the future! Next week, we’ll be covering The Karate Kid Part II (1986).
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